Football
At Nathan Phillips Square, at the Rogers Centre, in the Vanier Cup, at the Metro Bowl high school qualifying game … football was, and remains, everywhere on this Grey Cup weekend. Which led to many questions from those who know nothing about the game, its rules and traditions: Why does a horse need to enter a high-end hotel? This isn’t Texas, so why do we care so much about high school football all of a sudden? Why is the rink at Nathan Phillips Square covered with turf? Did he say ‘tight end’?!?

On your mark, get set, shop
Now Black Friday is a thing here? Apparently you could have spent all day moving from one great deal to the next as Canadian retailers tried to match the shopping mania of our American cousins. There is just one minor difference between the U.S. and Canadian versions that might affect sales figures: THEY GOT THE DAY OFF AND WE DIDN’T.

Who is the new Blue Jays manager
Random guesses included Jim Tracy, Sandy Alomar Jr., Manny Acta, Cito Gaston, Justin Trudeau and that guy from Bull Durham. But John Gibbons? He “wasn’t in my top 50 choices,” said one baseball columnist. So nobody won this game, except for John Gibbons, and even he didn’t see it coming.

Making fun of Rob Ford, Chapter XXVIII
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to make fun of Rob Ford. Fish, meet barrel. But two examples this week should have been met with disdain. The first, a looped video of the mayor taking a tumble (over and over and over again) while playing football, held his detractors in thrall. It was so funny to see him fall. And look, he fell again, and again. Oh and again … it never ends! Give him some credit for not giving a damn. Many politicians wouldn’t risk jogging on the spot if they knew cameras were nearby. Worse was the “Amazing video” of the mayor double-parking so he could run — tee hee, look at the big man run — into court during his defamation trial. “Double-parking” in this case is defined as the 10 seconds it took Mr. Ford to stop his car on a not particularly busy street and hop out while someone else moved from the back seat into the driver’s seat to move it elsewhere. The horror.

The mayoral sweepstakes
If recent poll numbers are accurate, step aside, Adam Vaughan, and let Olivia Chow be anointed the left’s candidate in 2014. But the names on the ballot are all just guesswork at this point. Two years from now we could be saying: “I’m shocked. John Gibbons wasn’t in my top 50 choices for mayor.”

National PostEach week @Ron_Wadden looks for themes buried deep in the week’s news. (And will often use the word ‘news’ loosely.)

Deal-hunters marked the official start of the holiday shopping season by swarming stores across America Friday morning. The yearly event, named because it’s the day retailers traditionally go “into the black” on their ledger books for the year has evolved into a shopping frenzy with stories of people getting trampled, shot and sometimes even killed in the process. Here’s a look at how the day went down in 2012:

6:37 p.m. ET

Authorities believe a disagreement over a parking space led to two people being shot and wounded outside a Walmart in Tallahassee, Fla.

Police say officers responded to the shooting shortly after noon on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. A man and a woman — discovered at the store’s outdoor garden center — were taken to a nearby hospital with wounds that were not considered life-threatening. They were expected to make a full recovery.

No arrests were immediately made, but police were searching for a dark green Toyota Camry in connection with the case.

4:03 p.m. ET

Shoppers at a Walmart fighting over cell phones can be seen shoving one another and struggling to stay standing. At one point, a woman yells “Stop!” as the shoppers around her continue to grab at the merchandise.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg9qLg9aXlE&w=940&h=667]

3:45 p.m. ET

Five men stole from a 14-year-old at a Bed, Bath & Beyond at about 2 a.m. on Friday, the Baltimore Sun reports. The victim told police the men accosted him on the sidewalk just outside the store, one of them punched him and another stole a bag containing merchandise he had just purchased, the newspaper reported.

The draw of pink underwear and pyjama bottoms was just too much for a crowd of teenage girls from Kansas on Black Friday, as they nearly overwhelmed a line of security guards and a brave Victoria’s Secret manager inside a crowded mall. Before the gate in front of the store’s entrance even rose, the crowd of several hundred young people lurched forward and filled the air with high-pitched screaming.

Apparently unwilling to obey the commands of a police officer to get back in a Black Friday lineup inside a Florida Walmart, one woman ended up in jail, according to Bay News 9. She claimed she was frantically looking for her sister-in-law, whom she’d lost in the crowd, according to the report. But when she tried to push past a bulky officer, he stopped her and she “began screaming, causing a larger scene and disturbing other customers.” She was charged with disorderly conduct.

1:26 p.m. ET

Shopping during Black Friday takes persistence and concentration — but ideally not so much concentration that you forget your girlfriend’s son in the car. A man from Massachusetts left the two-year-old boy in the car as he shopped for a TV at a Kmart on Thursday night, according to a Fox News report. After he purchased the TV, he went home and left his car — with the kid inside it — in the parking lot.

Police found the child asleep inside the vehicle at 1:30 a.m. It’s not immediately evident how the man — who claimed he lost the child and panicked — got the giant flat-screen TV home without use of a car.

As Black Fridays wears on, anticipated videos of shoppers swarming merchandise displays and fighting with one another have begun to emerge. In this YouTube video, a man shopping at Wal-Mart with his two children records a hoard of people scrambling to get their hands on $5 headphones. Once the merchandise is unveiled, it disappears within 15 seconds.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPleC29A8w&w=940&h=667]

12:30 p.m. ET

It used to just be parents eager to nab the hottest Christmas gifts for their kids lined up outside Black Friday retailers. But Black Friday shoppers are getting younger and younger. This year’s crowds have been dominated by packs of teenagers and young adults, waiting in line in the cold for the experience and for the hot deals.

“More than a third of those aged 18 to 29 report they will be taking advantage of the sales and price discounts,” the research agency Gallup said in a report. “Black Friday shopping intentions drop off as age increases, falling to 8% for those 65 and older.”

Allison Joyce / Getty Images Shoppers sit on the floor outside of the Abercrombie & Fitch store during Black Friday sales at the South Shore Plaza on November 23, 2012 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Black Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season, has traditionally been the busiest shopping day in the United States.

12:15 p.m. ET

Black Friday isn’t even over yet, and Wal-Mart is already calling the day of shopping madness its best ever.

“During the high traffic period from 8 p.m. through midnight, Walmart processed nearly 10 million register transactions and almost 5,000 items per second,” the company said in a release.

Over the course of those four hours, 22 million people were shopping in Wal-Mart stores. Protests by Walmart workers in at least nine states apparently did little to deter the masses from shopping. Read more here.

Back story: I take my two cousins out to Black Friday because they can’t drive yet and it’s been a 5 year long tradition. One of my cousins was waiting on line for the TV he wanted and the other was hanging out with me(white pants). We are hanging around, resting from standing in the cold for 2 hours, and this woman walks from this little area into the aisles of the store and starts shopping for stuff. My cousin points out that there’s a baby in the carrier and no one’s is watching him or her. We decided to see how long the parent would take to come back. 20 minutes. This woman left her infant unattended for 20 minutes in a Best Buy on their busiest and most chaotic day.

Someone could have easily taken the infant out from the carrier and walked out of the store, and she would not have known until she looked in the carrier.

People make me sick.

Reddit/Imgur/zomgitsdukeA Reddit user sees an abandoned baby.

10:35 a.m ET

More pictures from Black Friday crowds across the U.S.

REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn A crowd of shoppers browse at Target on the Thanksgiving Day holiday in Burbank, California November 22, 2012. The shopping frenzy known as "Black Friday" kicked off at a more civilized hour welcomed by some shoppers this year, with retailers like Target Corp and Toys R Us moving their openings earlier into Thursday night. Picture taken November 22, 2012

REUTERS/Carlo AllegriBlack Friday shoppers rush into the Macy's in New York first thing in the morning.

Darren Hauck/Getty ImagesWorkers and supporters prepare to march outside a local Wal-Mart retail store on Black Friday November 23, 2012 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The protestors were calling for better wages and working conditions for the employees

REUTERS/John GressAnnette and Jimmy McClellan navigate their two carts through a Walmart Store in Chicago, November 23, 2012. Black Friday, the day following the Thanksgiving Day holiday, has traditionally been the busiest shopping day in the United States

9:30 a.m ET

By the time Lori Chandler, 54, and her husband, Sam, 55, reached the Wal-Mart in Greenville, S.C. early Friday, they had already hit several stores, including Target and Best Buy. In fact, they had been holiday shopping since midnight.

“It’s a tradition,” Lori said as she looked at some toys she bought for her four grandchildren. Sam, smiling, agreed: “We’ve learned over the years, you have to stand in line early and pray.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7zjXI_eY2k&w=940&h=559]

The intensity of some of the Black Friday shopping played out in social media, with some people literally throwing up.

REUTERS/Jonathan AlcornA woman and her daughter push a heavy shopping cart at Target

AP Photo/The Oregonian, Randy L. RasmussenShoppers position themselves for the midnight opening of many stores at the Clackamas Town Center for Black Friday sales Thursday Nov. 22, 2012

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ova3DsdeaIU&w=940&h=559]

6:30 a.m ET

In the moments before Black Friday began, about 11,000 shoppers waited in lines wrapping around Macy’s flagship store in New York City, which opened its doors at midnight. Joan Riedewald, a private aide for the elderly, was among them — as were her four children. By the time they showed up at the department store, Riedewalde had already spent about $100 at Toys R Us and planned to spend another $500 at Macy’s before heading to Old Navy.

“I only shop for sales,” she said.

STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty ImagesCrowds outside Macy's in New York shortly before the doors opened Friday. About 11,000 shoppers were in lines wrapped store.

The Black Friday festivities started earlier than ever this year, with some stores, such as Toys R Us and Target, opening their doors during U.S. Thanksgiving Thursday night. Others stuck to the recent tradition of opening at midnight.

Retailers are hoping that the earlier openings will help boost sales this holiday season. About 147 million people are expected to turn out for the sales in the U.S. between Friday and Sunday, according to the National Retail Federation. Overall, it’s estimated that U.S. sales on Black Friday will be up 3.8% to $11.4-billion this year.

While no one expects the same kinds of crowds, many Canadian retailers are opting to import U.S.-style Black Friday sales this year, even though Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving in October and the year’s biggest sales traditionally come after Christmas.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX6oUAtCePg&w=940&h=529]

“What we really wanted to do was show retailers how we can work together to embrace the phenomenon,” said Meredith Vlitas, senior marketing director at the Eaton Centre in Toronto, Canada’s highest-traffic mall.

In the U.S., the earlier hours are an effort by stores to make shopping as convenient as possible for Americans, who they fear won’t spend freely during the two-month holiday season in November and December because of economic uncertainty. Many shoppers are worried about high unemployment and a package of tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff” that will take effect in January unless Congress passes a budget deal by then. At the same time, Americans have grown more comfortable shopping on websites that offer cheap prices and the convenience of being able to buy something from smartphones, laptops and tablet computers from just about anywhere.

AP Photo/ Joseph KaczmarekBlack Friday shoppers at the Best Buy in Northeast Philadelphia first thing in the morning.

That’s put added pressure on brick-and-mortar stores, which can make up to 40% of their annual revenue during the holiday shopping season, to give consumers a compelling reason to leave their homes. That’s becoming more difficult: the National Retail Federation estimates that overall sales in November and December will rise 4.1% this year to $586.1 billion, or about flat with last year’s growth. But the online part of that is expected to rise 15% to $68.4 billion, according to Forrester Research.

As a result, brick-and-mortar retailers have been trying everything they can to lure consumers into stores. Some stores tested the earlier hours last year, but this year more retailers opened their doors late on Thanksgiving or earlier on Black Friday. In addition to expanding their hours, many also are offering free layaways and shipping, matching the cheaper prices of online rivals and updating their mobile shopping apps with more information.

“Every retailer wants to beat everyone else,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, a research firm based in Charleston, S.C. “Shoppers love it.”

Indeed, some holiday shoppers seemed to find stores’ earlier hours appealing. “I ate my turkey dinner and came right here,” said Rasheed Ali, a 23-year-old student in New York City who bought a 50-inch Westinghouse TV for $349 and a Singer sewing machine for $50 at a Target in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood that opened at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. “Then I’m going home and eating more.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ova3DsdeaIU&w=940&h=529]

Carey Maguire, 33, and her sister Caitlyn Maguire, 21, showed up at the same Target about two hours before it opened. Their goal was to buy several Nook tablet computers, which were on sale for $49. But while waiting in line they were also using their iPhone to do some online buying at rival stores.

“If you’re going to spend, I want to make it worth it,” said Caitlyn Maguire, a college student.

By the afternoon on Thanksgiving, there were 11 shoppers in a four-tent encampment outside a Best Buy store near Ann Arbor, Mich., that opened at midnight. The purpose of their wait? A $179 40-inch Toshiba LCD television is worth missing Thanksgiving dinner at home.

REUTERS/Noah BergerPicketers outside the Walmart in San Leandro, California, before doors open for Black Friday.

While some shoppers appreciated the early start to the holiday shopping season, not everyone was happy about it. Some store employees and traditionalists denounced the move as pulling people away from families on Thanksgiving.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has been one of the biggest targets of protests against holiday hours. Many of Wal-Mart’s stores are open 24 hours, but the company offered early bird specials that once were reserved for Black Friday at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving instead.

The issue is part of a broader campaign against the company’s treatment of workers that’s being waged by a union-backed group called OUR Walmart, which includes former and current workers. The group is staging demonstrations and walkouts at hundreds of stores on Black Friday.

Jackie Berg, 26, of Ann Arbor, arrived first with her stepson and a friend Wednesday afternoon, seeking three of the televisions. The deal makes the TVs $240 less than their normal price, so Berg says that she’ll save more than $700.

“We’ll miss the actual being there with family, but we’ll have the rest of the weekend for that,” she said.

AP Photo/Mark HumphreyAllan Abbott advertises Nintendo Wii U video games he is selling as shoppers drive by outside a shopping complex on Friday in Franklin, Tenn.

Mary Pat Tifft, a Wal-Mart employee in Kenosha, Wis., who is a member of OUR Walmart, started an online petition on signon.org that has about 34,000 signatures. “This Thanksgiving, while millions of families plan to spend quality time with their loved ones, Wal-Mart associates have been told we will be stocking shelves and preparing sales starting at 8 p.m.,” she wrote on the site.

OUR Walmart said workers walked off their jobs in stores in Dallas, Miami and Kenosha, Wis., on Thursday. But a spokeswoman for the group did not immediately give numbers on how many workers participated.

For their part, retailers say they are giving shoppers what they want. Dave Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said that the discounter learned from shoppers that they want to start shopping right after Thanksgiving dinner. Then, they want to have time to go to bed before they wake up to head back out to the stores.

Still, Tovar said that Wal-Mart works to accommodate its workers’ requests for different working hours. “We spent a lot of time talking to them, trying to figure out when would be the best time for our events,” he said.

Files from Reuters, National Post staff

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/23/black-friday-2012-begins-for-deal-hunters/feed/2galleryBlack Friday 2012 at Best BuySamantha Chavez was arrested at a Florida Walmart during Black Friday for disorderly conduct. Shoppers sit on the floor outside of the Abercrombie & Fitch store during Black Friday sales at the South Shore Plaza on November 23, 2012 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Black Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season, has traditionally been the busiest shopping day in the United States. Reddit/fryselectronicssucksBestbuyA crowd of shoppers browse at Target on the Thanksgiving Day holiday in Burbank, California November 22, 2012. The shopping frenzy known as "Black Friday" kicked off at a more civilized hour welcomed by some shoppers this year, with retailers like Target Corp and Toys R Us moving their openings earlier into Thursday night. Picture taken November 22, 2012Black Friday 2012 at Macy's, New YorkWorkers and supporters prepare to march outside a local Wal-Mart retail store on Black Friday November 23, 2012 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The protestors were calling for better wages and working conditions for the employeesUSA-RETAIL_HOLIDAY-THANKSGIVING.3A woman and her daughter push a heavy shopping cart at Target Black_Friday_ShoppingBlack Friday at Macy's, New YorkBlack Friday 2012 at Best BuyJackson Police Cpl. Terry Hopkins Sr. watches customers enter Best Buy in Jackson, Miss., for the early Black Friday sales.Picketers outside the Walmart in San Leandro, California, before doors open for Black Friday.Allan Abbott advertises Nintendo Wii U video games he is selling as shoppers drive by outside a shopping complex on Friday in Franklin, Tenn.Canadian retailers join 'Black Friday' spectacle in bid to keep deal hunters on this side of the borderhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/22/black-friday-canada-2012-deal-hunters/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/22/black-friday-canada-2012-deal-hunters/#commentsFri, 23 Nov 2012 02:27:14 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=236014

TORONTO — The company that owns Canada’s highest-traffic mall knows many of its customers work on Black Friday — that’s why Toronto’s downtown Eaton Centre is opening at 6 a.m.

Tough competition and sluggish growth have spurred Canadian retailers to look for novel ways to defend market share, and many are opting to import U.S.-style Black Friday sales, even though Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving in October and the year’s biggest sales traditionally come after Christmas.

Bruce Edwards / Postmedia NewsFor the first time, West Edmonton Mall is holding a Black Friday promotion, where participating retailers will open at 8 a.m. on Friday and offer big sales.

A recent report from Deloitte forecast an anemic 1% to 2% retail sales growth in Canada this holiday season, and noted that Canadian retailers will have to compete with online merchants and with U.S. retailers, both those south of the border and those that have moved north.

If you’re trying to compare apples to apples and taking into consideration shipment and all that stuff, it’s getting closer to parity

No one thinks the Black Friday trend will whip up crowds on par with those in the United States, but most major retailers are planning some kind of sale.

Best Buy is branding its Canadian promotions “Black Friday” for the first time, joining early adopters Sears Canada and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Commercial real estate heavyweight Cadillac Fairview, which owns and operates Toronto’s Eaton Centre, is also opening nine of its other Ontario shopping centers early.

“What we really wanted to do was show retailers how we can work together to embrace the phenomenon,” said Meredith Vlitas, senior marketing director at the Eaton Centre.

Last year, there were occasional early morning line-ups as about half of the Eaton Centre’s outlets advertised weekend or one-day sales, but certainly no need for crowd control.

John Konstantaras/AP Images Customers wait in line for doorbuster deals at the Kmart on Addison Street in Chicago Thursday. Canadian retailers are optimistic about their Black Friday plans, but no one expects it to be the spectacle shoppers in the U.S. have become used to.

Ran Ravitz, general manager of Yellow Media Inc’s discount tracking site Red Flag Deals, said Black Friday started to gain traction in Canada in 2009, and nearly all major retailers joined in last year.

This year, he expects better deals will make it less worthwhile to cross the border, where Canadians long found lower prices and heavier discounts.

“They’re getting closer and closer,” he said of U.S. and Canadian prices. “If you’re trying to compare apples to apples and taking into consideration shipment and all that stuff, it’s getting closer to parity.”

Sears Canada Inc spokesman Vincent Power said the department store chain expects televisions to be a major category during its “Black Friday” sales, which start on Thursday, along with major appliances, apparel and accessories.

In June, the government increased the amount that Canadians traveling abroad for at least 24 hours can spend without paying duty, to C$200 from C$50 each for trips up to 48 hours, and to C$800 from C$400 for trips up to seven days – making cross-border shopping trips cheaper for those who stay in the U.S. overnight.

“Canadian retailers have responded,” Powers said. “I don’t think there’s a major Canadian retailer out there who doesn’t consider Black Friday an extremely important day on the calendar.”

At the same time sluggish retail growth in the United States has lured more U.S. retailers to Canada, where consumer spending has been relatively robust.

That has put pressure on domestic players, and competition can only get tougher in the run-up to Target Corp’s Canadian launch this spring.

I don’t think there’s a major Canadian retailer out there who doesn’t consider Black Friday an extremely important day on the calendar

Canada’s big shopping event used to be Boxing Day, December 26, when bargain hunters endure long lines to snap up heavily discounted clothing and electronics and lucky teenagers set out to spend their Christmas money in one glorious spree. But Black Friday is catching up, at least by flyer count.

At Red Flag Deals, where committed coupon clippers swap tips in busy forums and others drop in to browse flyers, traffic spikes ahead of Boxing Day and Black Friday. Ravitz said visits may come close to parity this year. On Wednesday, a traffic surge brought the site down for several hours.